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been decreasing at the above mentioned rate, contrary to the popular perception of its substantial reduction. The report stated that over a crore children continue to be a part of the country's workforce. 

The analysis also points to a dangerous trend. Child labour in urban areas has increased by 53% during 2001-2011. This is of utmost concern since the enforcement machinery is primarily based in urban regions and the implementation of child protection structures is stronger in urban India. This increase in urban child labour could be attributed to increased migration including seasonal migration for employment as well as trafficking of unaccompanied minors.

Around 80% of the working children are based in rural areas and three out of four children work in agriculture as cultivators or in household industries. More than half of the working children in India are concentrated in the six states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and West Bengal.

India recently amended the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill. But the legislation seems to have created controversies. Activists object to two particular amendments, which involve permitting children to work for their families and the reduction in the number of banned professions for adolescents. The UNICEF had urged India to exclude the clause associated with family work from the proposed law so as to protect children from being exploited, trafficked, or from dropping out of school due to long hours of work. However, the lawmakers have ignored this critical clause. The revised Act now allows children to work for “family businesses” after school hours and during holidays. Significantly, the UNICEF observed in a recent statement, “Under the new Child Labour Act, some forms of child labour may become invisible and the most vulnerable and marginalised children may end up with irregular school attendance, lower levels of learning, and be forced to drop out of school.”

Analysis of the Census data by CRY reveals that close to 1.4 million child labourers in India between the age group of 7-14 years cannot even write their names. In other words, one in three child labourers in this age group are illiterate. Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi, who helms the non-profit Bachpan Bachao Aandolan (Save the Children Movement), dubbed the new law as a missed opportunity for the country’s children. The other problem with the bill is that it brings down the list of dangerous occupations from the earlier 83 to just three occupations namely mining, inflammable substances and hazardous processes. Does this mean that these industries, hitherto considered unsafe and banned from employing children have suddenly turned safe?

There are apprehensions that the new law will worsen the situation. But by allowing children to work before and after school hours, the bill contravenes their most fundamental right to a childhood and their entitlement to live a life with dignity as guaranteed by the constitution and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which India is a party.

The revised Act needs to be lauded for putting in place stiffer penalties for those employing children and doubling jail terms associated with child labour violations to two years. But, as experts have pointed out, stricter punitive actions alone is not the panacea to the problem, more so in India where rates of conviction for child labour remain abysmally low. Most feel economic growth is the only way out for the poorest in society to break free from this social evil.

Childhood is an important stage of life. But in reality, millions of children in our country start their lives as labourers. According to International Labour Organisation, the term ‘child labour’ is defined as ‘work’ that deprives children of their childhood, potential and dignity and which is harmful to physical and mental development. Child labour has been an important area of global social concern. Children, who are under 15 years of age, continue to work in large numbers in various sectors of the economy.

The informal economy is neither taxed nor monitored by the government. Unlike the formal economy, activities of the informal economy are not included in the Gross National Product (GNP) and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country. The crisis in this sector is even more acute.

While participation in the informal sector can be stigmatized, many workers engage in informal ventures by choice, for either economic or non-economic reasons. Economic motivations include the ability to evade taxes, the freedom to circumvent regulations and licensing requirements and the capacity to maintain certain government benefits. A study of informal workers in Costa Rica illustrated that they felt they would earn more money through their informal sector work than at a job in the formal economy. Secondly, even if workers made less money, working in the informal sector offered them more independence, the chance to select their own hours and the opportunity to work in their comfort zone. While jobs in the formal economy might bring more security and regularity, or even pay better, the combination of monetary and psychological rewards from working in the informal sector proves appealing for many workers.

A serious study was done recently based on secondary data collected from National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) and Census of India states that the majority of households in slums were engaged in the informal sector and specifies that 36.5% were involved in servicing the urban middle class (as maids, drivers, etc.) and 22.2% were casual labourers. About 34% of the available labour force in Kolkata slums is reportedly unemployed.

Children work in the informal
economy in many parts of the world. They often work as scavengers (collecting recyclables from the streets and dump sites), day labourers, cleaners, construction workers, ven-dors, in seasonal activities, domestic workers, and in small workshops. It is common for children to work as domestic servants across Latin
America and parts of Asia. Such children are very vulnerable to exploitation. They are often not permitted to take breaks and are forced to work long hours. Many suffer
from a lack of access to education. UNICEF considers domestic work as highly exploitative as workers (especially children) work under the round-the-clock control of their employers.